


Darkness is Your Candle

by Cinnamongirl



Category: Galavant (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:02:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28105176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnamongirl/pseuds/Cinnamongirl
Summary: In which Isabella and Galavant try to be better parents than their own parents were, Madalena practices the Dark Dark Evil Ways and has feelings (but not necessarily in that order), and Gareth realizes that Madalena doesn’t need him to save her.
Relationships: Galavant/Isabella (Galavant), Gareth/Madalena (Galavant)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 50
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Darkness is Your Candle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Luthien](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luthien/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide to Luthien! I was glad to get assigned to write for you because you seem like an awesome person, and also because you had a really nice prompt that was open-ended but not too vague. 
> 
> The title comes from a quote by Rumi, because what is Yuletide if not a chance to be high-brow and low-brow at the same time?

_Way back five years ago  
There was this TV show  
That had a catchy opening song  
‘Twas fun and clever, too  
But ratings kind of blew  
And cancellation struck before too long  
We were left with only vague predictions  
But at least we have fanfiction  
So, then  
I wrote for Luthien  
What maybe could have been  
If we'd had more of Galavant!_

Madalena had spent most of her life trying to become more powerful by attaching herself to powerful men. She lied to them when she thought she could get away with it, flattered them when she had to, and used them whenever she could, but it wasn’t until she met Wormwood that she learned what true power really was. 

It had been fun to be a hero’s girlfriend and it was nice to be queen, but sorcery felt _good_. The magic seemed to flow out of her, like this was what she was supposed to have been doing all along. Unfortunately, she’d barely had a chance to train with Wormwood before Richard came along and ruined everything. She still had magic—she’d made that choice forever once she signed the contract—and it was fun to play around to see what she could do with D’DEW, but she knew that she had so much more to learn. So, it was with only the smallest of angry aside glances that she made her way to yet another man to see what he could do to help her.

The Dark Evil Lord was both incredibly strange and tremendously powerful. She’d thought that magic came naturally to Wormwood, but the DEL cast spells as easily as breathing. His favorite thing to do was to change his entire outfit, which he did several times every day with just a wave of his hand. Madalena could never tell if he was even wearing real clothes or if they were just magical projections. 

She hadn’t known what to expect from her training but it still managed to surprise her. The DEL had her spend most of her time practicing various dark, evil spells, but he also wanted her to study magic from old books and devote at least as much of her time to developing her personal style.

“You’re not a queen anymore,” he said. “Why do you keep trying to dress like one? When you’re evil, you can wear anything you like.” He criticized her for wearing too much black or anything with a spiky collar because he said that it was cliche, but he approved of her accessorizing with as many knives as possible. “Knives are always fashionable,” he said.

One day, he told her to sharpen her knives. “You’re almost ready for your final lesson,” he said. “But we’re going to need more people for that.”

“Who? Where do we find them?” She was eager to get started.

“Don’t worry, they should be coming here soon enough.”

***

Gareth was a lifelong follower without anyone to lead him. He and Sid had spent some time trying to find Madalena and save her from herself, but it became clear that nobody knew where she had gone. It didn’t seem like she was dead- nobody anywhere had reported her death, and she was surely too mean and too stubborn to die unless she wanted to, but it was obvious that she didn’t want to be found, wherever she was.

Sid stayed for a while but then he left, and the last Gareth had heard from him he was living in a charming cottage with his boyfriend and their four dogs. Gareth was happy for him but it got kind of lonely after that.

He tried to keep himself busy so that he didn’t spend all his time thinking about Madalena, which mostly worked until he heard a rumor about someone in the South doing dark evil magic. He thought about the last time he saw her, when he’d decided that maybe he could stomach D'DEW if she was the one doing it, but it still wasn’t enough to make her stay. He couldn’t imagine that she’d changed her mind since then but he knew he had to try.

***

After their wedding, Isabella and Galavant had moved into a house by the sea. It was a large house, for all of their future children (the exact number was still up to debate), but shortly after Amelia Francesca Cassandra Allegra Galavant was born, they agreed that one child was plenty and decided not to have any more.

Galavant promised to be there for Amelia- to actually be there, not just claim after the fact that he’d been there all along. Isabella promised to never try to force her to marry any children and/or people she was related to.

They weren’t bored. There was absolutely nothing boring about living by the sea and writing poetry and tending a garden and trying to convince Amelia to eat vegetables. They didn’t miss their old lives, where they’d been imprisoned and nearly killed (and actually killed, in Galavant’s case). It was just that Isabella’s parents offered to watch Amelia for a while so that they could celebrate their anniversary by going off on an adventure together. Just a small one, for old time’s sake. There were rumors about someone known only as the Dark Evil Lord who had been doing unspeakably dark, evil deeds, and it seemed like the perfect anniversary trip.

They rode through the forest together, stopping to make camp along the way. At one point, bandits attacked them and they fought them off. “I forgot how much fun this is,” said Isabella. “Is that bad? Am I a bad mother?”

“Honestly, I was wondering the same thing. I spent so long telling myself that I wouldn’t be like my father, leaving my child alone to go play hero, and now I’m doing it too.”

“But it’s okay if it’s just for a vacation, isn’t it?”

“Maybe that’s our problem? We live in a cottage by the sea, so our everyday lives are a vacation.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Gareth, of all people. He looked like he was in a bad mood but he didn’t seem to be trying to attack them, so they lowered their swords. “What are you doing here?” Galavant asked.

“Are you tracking Madalena, too?”

“Madalena? We just heard something about a Dark Evil Lord.”

“That’s her, isn’t it? It must be.”

“Argh.” Galavant rolled his eyes. “For once in my life, I thought I was rid of her.” He looked at Isabella. “Are you sure you still want to do this? It’s not too late to spend our anniversary by the sea. A different sea, not the one where we live.”

“I want to do this even more now.” Madalena had tried to ruin Isabella’s life before and had almost succeeded. She couldn’t wait to defeat her once and for all.

***

Adventurers and would-be heroes started advancing on the Dark Evil Lair, which was confusingly also called the DEL. Madalena and the DEL (the person) stood just inside the gate surrounding the DEL (the building). “Good,” he said. “You’ll have a lot of potential sacrifices to choose from.”

“I’m going to be sacrificing someone?” She was surprised that she’d been involved in D’DEW for so long without doing this yet.

“That’s what the knives are for. You’ll choose your victim and then I’ll cast a spell as you kill them, and then nothing will ever stand in your way.”

“They look well-armed.” It wasn’t anything that she couldn’t handle, but there were rather a lot of formidable-looking people in the crowd.”

“I’ve been spreading rumors about dark magic happening here. They came prepared to fight.”

“Couldn’t you spread rumors about cute puppies, or cake, or free beer or… what do boring people like?”

“This way, only the bravest warriors will face us, and we will become stronger than ever. I was thinking that we could make them fight each other and then sacrifice the last one standing.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea.” 

Madalena was still feeling pleased with herself when the DEL pointed toward a person in the crowd. “He looks like the strongest one here, doesn’t he?”

It was Galavant, of all people. He was there along with Isabella and-

Gareth noticed her looking at him and frowned. He didn’t seem surprised to see her. She’d been trying not to think about him for a long time.

Madalena froze for just a moment before she opened the gate with a wave of her hand and started walking toward him. “Fancy seeing you here,” she said. She reminded herself that she was about to become the most powerful sorcerer in the Seven Realms.

“You’re looking well.”

“Dark sorcery suits me, apparently.”

Gareth spluttered, apparently unable to manage being polite for more than about a minute. It had always been one of his more endearing traits. “What’s gotten into you? You get a taste of magic and it turns into this?” He gestured toward the DEL (both of them). “Killing people, I can understand that, but you have to think about _why_ you’re doing it.”

“I know exactly why I’m doing this.” She called a bolt of lightning down from the sky, striking right next to where Gareth was standing. Several people gasped and at least one person screamed. “Did you see that? Cersei wishes she could do that.”

“Who?”

“I changed my mind.” It was the DEL, somewhere behind her. She turned and saw him holding a particularly sharp knife in one hand, pointing directly at Gareth with the other. “I think he would be the perfect sacrifice.”

“What?!” Gareth yelled, sword ready. He looked like he was about to charge at the DEL but he was staring at Madalena.

“Kill him, Madalena. Take the power that is rightfully yours.”

She stared at the DEL in all his perfectly-accessorized evil, and she felt something. 

She was angry, perhaps, or maybe even afraid. She wondered if this was what the DEL had planned all along. Was there really something to the idea that you could gain more power by sacrificing your former lover or partner or whatever Gareth was to her, or did the DEL just want to see if she had any sentimentality left? Madalena felt like she’d been manipulated, and it wasn’t a good feeling.

“No,” she said. "I don’t think I will.”

“You have to be willing to make sacrifices if you want true power.” He sounded like everyone who had ever doubted her or talked down to her. She didn’t know how she’d trained under him for so long without noticing it.

“I think that I can decide on my own if I’m powerful enough.”

The DEL glared at her, and there was a moment when she was afraid that he was going to attack her. Instead, he spoke. “If you are too weak to learn from me, I have no use for you. Don’t let me catch you on my property ever again.”

“Fine. I was getting bored here anyway.”

The DEL turned around and stormed off toward the entrance of the building. The other adventurers seemed confused about what was happening.

“Maddie.” Gareth had an odd expression on his face. “You refused to kill me. It almost sounds like you still like me.”

“This is still who I am,” she said. “I’m not giving it up.”

“I know. I’m not saying I’m comfortable with your magic but I can live with it. And, you know, if you need somewhere to stay now, you’re always welcome at my place.”

She raised a hand to his face, feeling his stubble under her palm. She could easily set his skin on fire and he knew it, but he just smiled at her. “I could potentially get used to that,” she said.

Galavant and Isabella were only half-listening to them. “I wonder how Amelia’s doing?” he asked. “I’ll bet she’s driving your parents mad.”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting homesick?”

“Would it be bad if I was?”

She looked at him, the handsome adventurer that she’d fallen in love with, and thought about their home by the sea. “This was fun, but I wouldn’t want to do it full-time. Maybe just on special occasions?”

“You know, your birthday’s coming up. I’m sure I could find some evil for us to defeat together.”

“I love you,” she said, and they kissed each other for an uncomfortably long time, but neither of them wanted to stop because it was so perfect.

_I want to give a shout  
To those who got left out  
Like Richard, Bobby, and Tad Cooper  
Hope this fic made you smile  
At least a little while  
Although this year's been less than super  
2020 has hurt severely  
But at least this year is nearly  
Done  
So may next year be more fun  
And Good Yuletide everyone!  
And why not re-watch Galavant?_


End file.
